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Thursday, 19 July 2012

THE NEW ATO DOCUMENT YOU HAVE TO READ

THE NEW ATO DOCUMENT YOU HAVE TO READ

WHY?
It talks about the focus of the ATO on possible audit processes this financial year.
I have been mentored by Dymphna Boholt, (expert in this area) and so have really nothing to worry about. I have done it right from the start and thank her for it .
If you want to have a refresher course from not only Dymphna and her extremely good expert team of accountants and law experts, YOU need to attend one of the seminars. Contact Knowledge Source
to find out when they are on and prepare you questions for the talks. http://knowledgesource.com.au/

SMALL-TO-MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
There are around 183,000 businesses in Australia with an
annual turnover of between $2 million and $250 million,
which the ATO classifies as small-to-medium enterprises
(SMEs). Of these, around 80% have a turnover of between
$2 million and $10 million.
Over the coming year, our compliance program for
SMEs will focus on the following compliance risks:

Over the coming year, our compliance program for
SMEs will focus on the following compliance risks: n participation of wealthy individuals in the tax and superannuation systemsn use of trusts to inappropriately minimise taxn Division 7A – treatment of private company profitsn capital gains – non-disclosure and incorrect reporting
n employer compliance with fringe benefits tax rulesn integrity of business systems for GST and excise obligationsn GST and property transactions

OTHER COMPLIANCE ISSUES
As well as the key compliance issues we are focusing
on in 2012–13, we continue to monitor the compliance
of micro enterprises with the full range of their tax and
superannuation obligations, including the following issues: GST and property transactions – we will continue to monitor and investigate taxpayers who dispose of real property and fail to report the transaction on
their activity statement or misclassify the transaction
for GST purposes.
We will match information from
third party sources (such as sales data from state
and territory revenue offices) with information
reported on activity statements (see SMEs, page 35).

Details of a crackdown on how property transactions are reported for
tax purposes have been revealed in the ATO’s Compliance program for
2012-13, which highlights “particular issues” that will attract the
attention of the taxman with a warning that it will “deal firmly with
those who intentionally seek to obtain advantage over their competitors
through the inappropriate use of the tax and superannuation systems”.
“The annual compliance program outlines the actions we are taking to
deter, detect and deal with those who do not meet their tax and
superannuation responsibilities,” says Bruce Quigley second commissioner
of compliance at the ATO.Property developers
In relation to GST and property transactions, the ATO says it willincrease its focus on property developers with a history of non-compliance.
“By engaging with taxpayers at registration and throughout the
property lifecycle, we will encourage them to correctly assess and
report their liabilities and, where necessary, require them to provide
security bonds against projected future tax liabilities,” says the ATO.
The ATO highlights that it has a strong relationship with the states
and territories in developing and supporting its complementary
compliance programs.
As an example it says it received a referral from the Northern
Territory Revenue Office that initiated a series of audits on property
developers “disengaging from the tax system and thus evading payment of
income tax and GST on property sales”.